Overview
Economic Analysis
Of Photovoltaic (PV) Powered Water Pumping And Desalination Without Energy
Storage For Agriculture
Abstract
Global
growing demand for agricultural production has put increased pressure on
freshwater resources in various global locations with renewed interest in
utilizing desalinated brackish water. In order to determine the economic
feasibility of solar-powered water pumping and desalination for agriculture, an
engineering system model that performs hourly simulations of a variable speed
PV pumping and desalination systems operating at variable speed without
electrical energy storage was developed. Based on resource availability inputs
and system requirements, the optimal architecture is determined by simulating
three types of power supplies (PV, diesel, grid), four inverter configurations,
four membrane types, two RO system recovery rates, and the integration of
energy recovery device options. Economic results for water pumping show a clear
advantage for PV based systems compared to diesel and grid based systems.
Oversizing requirements to meet water demand in agriculture negatively impacts
the economics of the modeled PV desalination system. Several case studies in
the Jordan Valley were evaluated to illustrate the economic viability of
solar-based systems with simulation results including a direct comparison to
diesel and grid-connected alternatives. Results show the need for favorable
locations in terms of water resource and crop selection for system
implementation
